It is the third death anniversary today of Brig. Alex Gwebe Nyirenda.
I pay special tribute to this illustrious Tanzanian who at the eve of Tanzania's independence climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and placed the Uhuru Torch at the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro on 9 December 1961.
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| Uhuru Peak at the top left point of the photograph, as seen from Crater Camp |
A few years ago, when I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro for the second time, I began to toy with the idea of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro on the 50th independence anniversary. It is Nyirenda's climb at the eve of independence 50 years ago that has inspired hundreds of Tanzanians this month - including his children Alex Foti Gwebe Nyirenda, and Tima Gwebe Nyirenda - to retrace his steps and commemorate independence on Africa's highest peak.
I will report on this historic climb on this blog soon.
4 comments:
Hi, Nyirenda was a Zambian national not Tanzanian with grandsons still in Zambia. He was in the Tanzanian army.
Max
I am aware he had relatives both in Zambia and Malawi, but that does not outrule him being Tanzanian.
Years ago there was a presidential candidate in Kenya who had a brother who was a cabinet minister in Uganda.
This is a nice story of bravery too for every citizens of Kenya.
Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro
Hi Max! Nyirenda was a Tanzanian national before he came to Zambia. His mother was my grandmother's older sister. My grandmother is very old (102) and lives in Malawi. We all got more than two nationalities. I'm British by birth, Malawian through my dad and Tswana through my mother.
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